In a system including multiple processors, such as a system including multiple graphics processing units (GPUs), the workload of the system may not be spread uniformly across all processors. At a given point in time, certain processors may have a greater portion of the total workload than others, or certain processors may be required to operate at a higher rate, such as higher frame rates, depending on the type of workload each processor execute.
In operation, the entire system generally has a total power budget for the processors that is not to be exceeded. In particular, performance of a multi-GPU PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) card is often limited by the Iccmax limit that the external voltage regulator can supply to the card. Thus, the total power budget needs to be divided between the processors in some manner.
However, the workload of each processor may change dynamically during operation. A static division of the total power budget between processors, while providing protection against exceeding the total power budget, may result in a need for throttling or otherwise reducing operation of certain processors while other processors are under-utilized. Frequency throttling can prevent Iccmax budget violations but, if throttling occurs often, this can significantly degrade overall system performance.